EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 4-5:30 p.m. Feb. 27, 2013

EVENT: “Engaging Diversity: More Important than Ever”

Social psychologist Patricia Gurin will deliver the University of Michigan’s 9th annual Nancy Cantor Distinguished Lectureship on Intellectual Diversity.

Gurin, the Nancy Cantor Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women’s Studies, will address challenges that compel the U.S. to deepen its engagement with diversity in higher education. These include the demographic challenge brought on by the substantial changes now underway, the democracy challenge to bring all parties to the table of community and political discourse, and the dispersion challenge, which calls on future leaders to negotiate and collaborate across differences.

Gurin, director of research at U-M’s Program on Intergroup Relations and a faculty associate at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research, is co-author of an upcoming book, “Dialogue Across Difference: Practice, Theory, and Research on Intergroup Dialogue.” The book details the positive effects of intergroup dialogue courses by presenting detailed analysis of more than 1,400 students at nine universities.

The Program on Intergroup Relations was co-founded by Gurin in 1988 and is now replicated on university campuses across North America and beyond. IGR engages students, faculty and staff through coursework, workshops, research, resources and outreach to explore issues of intergroup relations, explicitly focusing on the relationship between social conflict and social justice.

The annual Nancy Cantor Distinguished Lecture is sponsored by the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs in recognition of the exemplary leadership and vision of Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor, former professor and provost at the University of Michigan. The 2013 Cantor Lecture is co-sponsored by the Understanding Race Theme Semester, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

PLACE: Rogel Ballroom, Michigan Union, 530 S. State St., Ann Arbor

SPONSORS: Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts’ Understanding Race Theme Semester